Menu

Sunday, February 5, 2012

5 Questions With Village Trustee Candidate: Jon Soyring

The Village of Bellevue will be holding a primary election on February 21, 2012 to nominate the candidates who will compete to fill two Trustee positions open this spring. In an effort to educate Bellevue residents, the candidates were given the opportunity to answer five basic questions regarding their campaign.

Below are the responses from Candidate Jon Soyring.

Question #1: Can You Tell Us About Yourself?
My name is Jon Soyring. Previously, I ran for Wisconsin State Senate (2010). I served honorably as a (Desert Storm Era) U.S. Naval Hospital Corpsman. My wife Toni and I have been married for 22 years, and have lived in Bellevue since 2002. We own a home in the Merry Creek Subdivision and have operated our business on Bellevue Street since 2002. My wife and I like to do “spur of the moment” traveling with no real destination. Our best vacations were the ones we never planned; just pack a bag flip a coin, and go where the road takes us. We like to “Pay it Forward”. We do charitable acts anonymously. Every now and then we might pay for some random person’s meal at a restaurant, or their tank of gasoline. We like to bring a smile to their face. I’m a Great Lakes Historian of sorts. Primarily focused on the shipwreck of the EDMUND FITZGERALD. I have researched the tragedy for 36 years, lectured on the topic, and wrote a movie script depicting the events that lead to its demise. I have accumulated one of the largest collections of Fitzgerald information known to be held in private hands.

Question #2: Why are you running for municipal office?
I am running for office because I am committed to the preservation of Bellevue’s highly coveted, LOW TAX BURDEN. It is because of Bellevue’s reputation of being “The Taxpayer’s Haven”; that we continue to see positive growth (albeit slower growth) in this down-turned economy.

I would like to champion and promote the village in positive ways to encourage businesses and families to choose Bellevue as their home; to bring the community closer together through volunteerism and a sense of community; Neighbor helping neighbor. I would like to encourage a sense of pride and accomplishment to all those have chosen Bellevue as their home. We have many things to be proud of and they should be promoted.

In order to bring outside investment into Bellevue, we must look at ways to give incentive to those seeking to open businesses in our village. We must work with business interests not only to build and conduct their business here, but also offer them encouragement to further invest in our community long term. By doing so will help in offsetting some of the costs of other building projects that will benefit the residents of the village. This could be very beneficial in the areas of parks and recreation projects, road construction and maintenance and other future infrastructure related projects.

Question #3: What is the single biggest issue Bellevue faces today or will face during the next few years?
In recent years, Bellevue has seen extraordinary growth. However, we are all too familiar with the economic nightmare that is plaguing the nation. The economy has taken a down turn, and growth has slowed considerably.

As we move into 2012 and beyond, we must take care with regard to the financial decisions we make today. We must rein in unnecessary spending; eliminate redundancies, while continuing to provide the essential community services we all count on.

The biggest issue facing Bellevue today is the future investment in “we the people”. In other words, it’s the never ending balancing act that must be performed in providing essential services that have rising costs associated with them, and the investment in areas needed for the future growth and prosperity of Bellevue as a whole.

We must preserve our highly coveted low tax burden; while at the same time investing in our collective futures. We are a community in transition. Our growth from merely a small town, to a proud and prosperous village does not come without some challenges or “growing pains”. I welcome and look forward to facing these challenges.

Question #4: What is your view about how local government should operate? I was asked a similar question how a government should operate during my run for State Senate in 2010. This was my answer:

“I feel government should operate in the light of day for all to see and yet leave a very small shadow. You know it’s there, but you should not feel like it is it’s constantly looking over your shoulder.”

I believe that government should be small; yet functional, as non-intrusive on the people’s lives as possible, yet capable and efficient, but above all else, honest.

We are “a government of the people, by the people, and for the people” and those in government shall answer to the people with all the honesty, courtesy, and respect the people justly deserve.

Question #5 - If you could say one thing concerning your campaign, what would it be?
Fiscal conservative.